Thursday, December 31, 2015

Best n Worst of 2015

2015 as a punk rock year???
Let me remind you how I ended last years review.

"A irritating issue however is that the punk nostalgia is taking over the scene. New bands, young bands are not given a chance. The "it was better back in the Days" mentallity is the new trend. And I fear it will increase next year. "

Did it happened? Hell yes!
I stayed out of most of it.
Stayed out of a lot of other stuff because of personal reasons. To me it was a tuff year, it was hell. But I hanged in there and I'm still standing. A bit shaken, a bit stired, but still standing. The good part was to find out who my real friends are. Cheers brohers and sisters!
But the year was a shithole for many people in my suroundings, many who suffered from bad living or their loved ones turning into idiots. To bad.
On the Rock n Roll scene the the biggest loss was the physical death by mr Motörhead, Lemmy. In the end he was killed by death. His body died, not his spirit or legacy.
A tremendous loss for all punks, metalheads and rockers everywhere. And to make the loss even worse, Motörheads last album (2015) was as good as their classics 70 - early 80ies albums.

I choosed to cut down on the number of gigs to attend to, and concentrating on follow two bands. Topper and Fuck Frankie. Topper i followed parts of their German tour as well as gigs around Sweden.
And did direct their first and second video.
In the Fuck Frankie video I was in front of the camera for once. It was as fun.
Both the band made brilliant performances at the new and amazing punk festival Tyrolen Punk at Tyrolen in the middle of nowhere in the rural part of southern Sweden. Alvesta, find that on the map if you can.
The line up of great bands was amazing. Possible the best of Swedish punk ever.
What a weekend!
Unfortionately it will not occure next year, possible 2017, hopefully.

I followed the making of Toppers new album and the release of it, the third album, Get in the line. Well I was a bit involved with the non musical part of it. So brilliant produced by Ulf Rockis Ivarsson. In between he also produced Punk icon Joakim Thåström's new album, or was it the opposit? :-). A great album as well, but not punk. Thåström still oppose the nostalgia of the punk business and the reforming of Ebba Grön. Hail to that!

Whats in it for 2016, I don't really care about. Still trying to lick the wounds of a pretty shitty year.

All bands are from Sweden exept where noted

BEST GIG
A lot of bands at Tyrolen punk. Hard to pick one better than the rest.

BEST PROMOTOR/FESTIVAL/CLUB
Tyrolen Punk

BEST ALBUM
Topper - Get in the line
Followed by
Smash It - Westcoast Democazy

NOTABLE, both records are from AMTY records as well as they hold Headons and The Liptones as well. So I guess that makes them the RECORD COMPANY of the year.

Statement!

I started this blog to cover Punk all over the globe. Look apon it as a blog fanzine. There will be reviews, interviews, videos, art, consumer tests, DIY stuff, rants and drunken ramble. And possible shamlessly self promotion of my own photos and music.

Mostly I will cover the Stockholm and Swedish scene but also exiting places far away. Ill do this in English because I believe that Punk is a global thing and the internet makes people get together.

Ive been into punk since the 1970ies, I dont have an exact date when it came to me but to me punk in the late seventies was the most exiting thing back then. And in some ways it still is, punk to me is a street revue a colorful way to make art to be a living part of ones life. Not always though. Sometimes punk can be dull, commercialized and predictive to a point where it just not fun.

Since Ive been around for a while its possible there will be some history lessons as well. But I dont give a shit about embarrasing genre limitations, who is the purest punk or biggest dickassholescumbag. Those narrow minded activities is just degrading to the one that say it. So I will cover some Metal, Kraut Rock, Prog Rock, Ska, Synth, Electro, Reggae, Politics and Contemporary Art as well. Just it have a punky wibe with it.